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Employers scramble to make commutes less costly

Recognizing the very real possibility of losing quality employees to jobs with shorter, cheaper commutes, employers across the country are scrambling to help their workers save on gas. Many companies have started to strongly encourage telecommuting, even paying for at-home workers’ laptops, Blackberrys, and/or wireless connections. Microsoft has leased extra office space miles from its […]

McCain to visit nuclear power plant with dismal safety record

After stopping at a biker rally in South Dakota this morning, John McCain is headed to Monroe, Mich., this afternoon, where he’ll visit the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. While at the power plant, he’s expected to talk up his plan to build 45 new nuclear plants by 2030, and 55 more after that. During […]

Things smart people assume

In Sunday’s WaPo, Joel Achebach says, “Rigorous science is the best weapon for persuading the public that [climate change] is a real problem that requires bold action.” The best weapon? Is that true?

House Republicans’ magical thinking on oil prices

Wow. House Republicans are now saying that their hissy fit cum frat party on the floor is lowering the price of oil. Not for the first time, I have to wonder: do they believe this? Do they really indulge in this kind of magical thinking? The oil price issue is an interesting political case. It’s […]

The shape of the oil crisis

This is the first in a series on how we can build an energy future based on our best science and no longer critically dependent upon exhaustible and polluting fossil fuels.

Too often, discussions of our future energy system simply reflect the current array of political forces in Washington or the novelty-hungry attention of the media and not the long-term viability of technologies and proposed solutions. As the price of oil is the most pressing issue from a short-term perspective, I am starting this series of policy briefs with how the energy used in transport on land can be transferred from liquid fossil fuels to cleanly generated electricity; in the second part I will address how we can create the conditions for powering the grid in the post-fossil fuel era.

Oil supply: speculation and long-term trends

We can all now agree that it has been the ultimate in shortsightedness to continue building a society founded upon burning ever increasing amounts of easily exhaustible resources. Not only is it highly visible, petroleum at the pump, but, behind the scenes, the vital energy for agriculture and freight transport that now depend upon the output of oil wells, mostly located abroad. In the U.S. in particular, we have had a 25 year hiatus in facing this reality through political, cultural, and corporate resistance to change, which means that Americans are starting the race far behind the starting line. In addition, as it turns out, the burning of these fossil resources alters the global climate and creates local pollution and health problems. There are other ills and challenges in our world but currently fossil fuel addiction is one of the most pressing but also, fortunately, soluble problems.

Stars align for Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson: Hey, De Niro, you wanna star in an eco-thriller with me? Robert De Niro: You talkin’ to me? Gibson: Yes, I’m talkin’ to you. It’s called Edge of Darkness; it’s based on that BBC miniseries. Are you familiar with it? De Niro: You talkin’ to me? Gibson: Yeah, it’s about this homicide detective […]

Big Auto backs off support for tighter fuel-economy standards

New fuel-economy rules coming down the pike are likely to displease pretty much everyone, if a public hearing held Monday is any indication. In the current proposal from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, auto manufacturers must achieve a fleet-wide average fuel economy of at least 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015 — a jump […]

The beginnings of a continentalized global economy

Your faithful blogger was surprised to find himself representing part of the environmental blogosphere in a New York Times article on Sunday, "Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization." It's very much worth reading, and prior to writing the article the reporter, Larry Rohter, talked with me about my first installment in this series, "Globalization death watch, Part I."

In his article, after noting the recent collapse of global trade talks, Rohter writes:

Some critics of globalization are encouraged by those developments, which they see as a welcome check on the process. On environmentalist blogs, some are even gleefully promoting a "globalization death watch."

Now, look at the dictionary.com definition of "gleeful":

full of exultant joy; merry; delighted.

Well, maybe the births of my sons called forth such feeling, but I'm not usually full of exultant joy, particularly when I think about global crises.

However, Larry Rohter may be forgiven his choice of words, considering the title of the blog post. I and, if I may be so bold as to speak for some other environmental bloggers, others think that the decline, even death of globalization would be a good thing. But just as the rise of globalization led to much suffering, so will its decline, and that's certainly not something to be "gleeful" about. To paraphrase Barack Obama's pithy phrase about getting out of Iraq, "we've got to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in."

I'd like to go over some of the points Rohter highlights, and then explain later in the post why there is a better alternative to globalization.

Enviros unhappy with Obama’s offshore-drilling shift, but pleased with his energy plan

Many in the environmental community are annoyed by Barack Obama’s change of position on offshore drilling, even while they applaud his comprehensive energy plan. The Democratic candidate had staunchly opposed new drilling on the outer continental shelf, but then shifted his position on Friday to say he would be open to some drilling if it […]

Gorilla census finds 125,000 more western lowland gorillas than expected

A new gorilla census in the Republic of the Congo has found about 125,000 more western lowland gorillas than expected living in the northern part of the Montana-sized country, effectively doubling the known population of the species. Western lowland gorillas are one of four gorilla subspecies, all of which are in danger of extinction. “These […]